PC Specs

[ikthius]

Hey everyone,

I hope more of you guys know more about computer specs than I do….

Looking for a new computer, guess what I will be doing mainly???

Ok I will explain what I will do on the comp and why I need a new one.

Why?
Mine is just shutting down on its own… it is really really slow*, even when cleaned up.
There is no viruses, adwares, and secunia says it is up to date 100% (last scan 1 week ago).
I do make sure I am secure at all times and I do my PC health every 2 weeks – 1 month (including from safe mode).
I want to have more peace of mind for working with clients that my computer is up to the task.
* boot up takes about 10 mins to get FF to open up at start, 5 mins for TB… (selected start up from msconfig)

What I will do.
I will be making websites
maybe coding a bit of java (if I get back into it)
playing with graphics programs (Gimp/Photoshop etc) for sites
making videos for my club (Kung fu – we are putting our syllabus on DVD)
general internet usage, Excel & word use, email… etc

What I would like in a computer
AMD Quad core
3gb Ram (at least) but want to expand to as much as possible
Fast Hard Drive, min 80GB (currently I have 2 x 80GB hard drives, one was to play with linux – I can’t get my head round linux)
Windows Vista – (I know its bad, but c’mon they are pushing this through – linux needs to be as easy as windows for me to move)
Play DVD Make DVD/CD

Ok what I have found is this
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.a … _id=34035#
better images: http://www.aceroutlet.com/PRD_MoreImages.aspx?pid=4124

what are your thoughts guys, I really want to get a good buy for what I want and what I need I also want to spend around the £500 mark.

[Hugo]

I think that PC is okay, but I have to ask which video editing program are you planning to use..? Are we talking windows movie maker or Final Cut Pro HD 2? The heavier your video editing program, the better graphics card you’re going to need..

Oh and what I usually do is use some my ‘old’ monitor and keyboard and mouse and such, so you can save money on that and spend a little more on the computer parts that actually matter: processor, RAM, graphics card…

[Hugo]

For windows movie maker this PC/graphics card should be fine… Maybe you can even run Adobe Premiere on that pc (which is a great video-editing program in my opinion)!
And I’d definitely go for that plan on Dabs.. Windows 7 promises to be waaaay better than Vista (I’ve also tested it myself), and getting the upgrade for free is probably going to save you about 80 quid.

[Matt]

Build your own. Buying a prebuilt is just like throwing your hard-earned money out the window. Though, if you didn’t work for it (or hardly) spend away.

http://www.newegg.com/

Parts you’ll need:
Processor (Just use AMD. Intel’s are very expensive and don’t offer much outside of the Pi calculating field. And don’t give me benchmarks, since Intel is known for "influencing" them. AMD’s can do the EXACT same thing and cost much, much less.)
Oh, and buy retail processors (not OEM) so you don’t have to buy a fan along with it.
RAM (DDR2 is still acceptable, just go for at least 3GB if you plan to use many Adobe applications)
Motherboard (Go Full ATX if you can afford it, but a Micro ATX ASRock would suit you fine too)
Hard Drive (Go for at least 300GB, SATA II)
Case (Regular ATX case)
Power Supply (PSU – At least 400W)
Graphics Card (For design or modeling work, I HIGHLY recommend the FireGL V7600. It is the best I’ve used in a while for the price. For trying to reach your goal, try just going for the Nvidia 9000 series.)

Well, that’s all the parts you need out of the box methinks.

EDIT
Don’t buy Acer computers. Acer makes great monitors, but every netbook/laptop/computer I’ve serviced or bought has either been damaged superficially or has had a component fail rather quickly (but suspiciously over the 60 day warranty). Also, their support is damned near impossible to get anything done with. Now, maybe nothing is wrong with what you buy, good, but just be warned and never say you hadn’t known something could have gone wrong.

[EamonnMac]

I tried building one – thankfully with an old computer and old parts, just to see how hard it could be. How bad could it be?

It Caught FIRE. That’s how bad.

[TheDoc]

For a 500 pound budget, you should be doing better than an Acer desktop and a monitor brand I’ve never even heard of.

A lot of Dell’s monitors are on sale right now. Buy one.

Hmmm I just had a look at UK prices. You guys get the short end of the stick for sure. Dell’s monitors seem to be priced well, but the desktop are way out of whack when comparing to US and Canadian pricing. Tough luck.

[Matt]

"EamonnMac" wrote:

I tried building one – thankfully with an old computer and old parts, just to see how hard it could be. How bad could it be?

It Caught FIRE. That’s how bad.

It’s ok, we all forget the pixie dust at one time in our careers ;)

As long as you have a good PSU and enough cooling compound, you should be fine. Just make sure you don’t nom on the wires of course :)

[Matt]

Monitor: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/159417 Acer 22" 10000:1 ratio
In my opinion, Acer makes the best priced monitors I’ve seen for the quality.

Processor: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164047 AMD Phenom II X4 3.2GHz (3,276.80 MHz) with a 6MB Cache and an AM3 socket.

Why AM3? Well, if you upgrade in the near future, AM3 processors will work on AM2 AND AM3 motherboards. NOTE: AM2 PROCESSORS will NOT work on AM3 Motherboards. Besides the hardware incompatibility, it cannot physically insert into the socket. This is good future proofing. Also, stray from the Phenom I series as they contain a bug in the L3 cache that can render systems unstable.

As you build, make sure you touch a ground, whether it be an anti-static wrist-strap or a piece of metal connected to a ground. If you are very paranoid about static, take some liquid fabric softener and put about two drops into a small spritz bottle full of water. Shake it up and spray it on your floor. This is one way to rid your area of excess static.

[Matt]

"ikthius" wrote:

what about motherboard and the rest if I change the processor? would they all have to change?

If you change the processor to the one I suggested above, everything else would work perfectly. All AM3 processors have a DDR2 and DDR3 Integrated Memory Controller. This is how AM3 processors can work in AM2 motherboards with no modification. Though, if you upgrade to an AM3 motherboard in the future, the only other part you would need to change is your RAM to DDR3.

[Matt]

Well, looks good from this end. And I will admit, LG monitors are very good quality and assembly, but don’t let anybody tell you Acer monitors are cheap pieces of crap. I use this monitor every day for a bit of print design and a lot of modeling. The color tuning is spot on and the image quality is superb.

[EamonnMac]

@ Itkthius

You should do a running thread on the build, definately. I would love to see how you get on and maybe give it another shot. The price bracket is right and with what Matt said about future proofing as well…it could be very, very useful to a lot of people.

As a P.S. – do ebuyer.com ship to the Republic? I had a look at their shipping details, but they don’t explicitly say. Just if anyone had any idea…

[EamonnMac]

Nice One. Sterling prices are always cheaper for us (which is why we’re always hopping over the border for shopping :D ).

[Matt]

"ikthius" wrote:

sweet cheers dude

EDIT: just watched the youtube video, & the only thing worrying me is the thermal paste stuff & cooling fan…..

I don’t have these, any recommendations?

By buying a retail processor, your heatsink will have a preapplied compound-wax-pad applied to the bottom of it. All you have to do is secure it onto the processor and the compound will melt and spread out on the surface of the processor on first run.

THAT’s why I said by a retail processor. Takes out the confusion ;)

EDIT
By buying a retail processor, it will also come with a stock heatsink + fan with the compound pad on it, in case I wasn’t clear enough.

[Matt]

"ikthius" wrote:

sweet.

I just edited my last post to say I left you a PM, mainly about the AM3 processor.

I want to buy it either tonight or tomorrow, but, the processor I was looking at has went up a few pounds today, but the AM3 one you linked to has not.

I PM’d back. :)

[EamonnMac]

Best of luck! Boldly Go Where No Ikthius Has Gone Before! Weapons to MAXIMUM!!

EDIT – You have a link to comment on the site, but no comment form. Might be handy if things go pear shaped! (not for me, obviously, but for Matt et al who actually know what they’re on about – they could solve any probs all in the one spot…)

EDIT – for anyone in the Eurozone, I’ve just checked and Ikthius’s build specs would exchange for €657.06 at the current rate.

[Author]

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